Nurse killed as Ukraine's army shells hit Slavyansk hospitals

A nurse died in the city of Slavyansk after a Ukrainian military shell hit a local hospital on Saturday. Meanwhile, a Ruptly journalist came under fire while visiting a shelled maternity hospital in the eastern Ukrainian city.

The Ukrainian army resumed the shelling of Slavyansk on Saturday
afternoon, causing more damage to the city and igniting fires,
the local administration told RIA Novosti.

“In the afternoon the Ukrainian army shelled the center of
Slavyansk, apparently trying to hit the self-defense forces. One
of the shells hit the hospital. Two people were injured. One of
them – a seriously injured nurse – passed away,” the source
said.

All the patients and staff of the hospital took shelter in the
basement when the shelling began.

In another incident, 10 journalists came under artillery fire
while visiting a shelled maternity hospital in Slavyansk. They
were forced to hide in the hospital’s basement for about 20
minutes before coming out, but the shelling started again once
they attempted to leave the building. The maternity hospital was
evacuated a week ago.

One of the journalists caught in the gunfire, Andrey
Krasnoschekov, described the situation to RT.

“When we, a group of journalists, got information that a
maternity hospital in the town center has been damaged we headed
there, started recording interviews in the hospital’s yard, then
entered the building and at that moment the new attack
started,” he said.

“We ran into the basement and stayed there for 20 minutes.
Then we left the building, but heard new shelling quite close and
had to hide again. The building is quite seriously damaged,
nearly all the windows are broken,” he added.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the
Ukrainian army had launched a counter-offensive for the first
time.

“You should know that today the Ukrainian army for the first
time launched a counter-offensive. Our troops started to press
terrorists,” the president said. “I tasked the armed
forces of Ukraine to take control of Ukraine’s state border
through which terrorists get weapons, equipment, support, and
money," he said.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military has cracked down on
self-defense forces in Kramatorsk, killing more than 50 people and injuring 150
others in an airstrike, military operation spokesperson Vladislav
Seleznev said on his Facebook page.

Two self-defense checkpoints around Lugansk were also destroyed
on Saturday.

Poroshenko also announced that the national army gained control
of 11 residential areas in southeastern Ukraine which were
previously under the control of self-defense forces.

Kiev’s reports of military victories come a day after it lost 49 troops in Lugansk, when a military
transport plane was downed while trying to land at the city’s
airport. The incident apparently marked a breakthrough in the
Lugansk militia’s offensive against the Kiev-controlled airport,
which, the militia said, fell into their hands over Saturday.